Wealth, Status, and encouragement

When you pray to God for money for bills for example, and you later receive money, is that proof of God's "favor" in your life?

When someone encourages you to do something or purse something how do you know it is God working through them?

Everything seems like it would be Him.  The blessings of wealth and the blessings of positive words.  Sounds like something God would do right?

But what if I told you these are things Satan and a godless world can also give and do.

Christians that are 'too christian'

I have heard people called this, by other Christians.  That someone is "too churchy" or "too biblie" or "too Christian".  They are usually labeled this when they make something, a discussion, or a situation that is not in a religious context; about God.  They are accused negatively of making things in life about God, too often.  But that brings up a couple very important questions:

1.  Can a Christian, by making everything in life about God, be a bad thing?  That leads us to ask are Christians commanded to making everything about God?

2.  Is too much God wrong or is too little God wrong?  The reverse can also be asked; Is too much God right or too little God right?  Because they both can not be true.

3.  Is there a discussion, topic, situation, or thing in life where God should not be brought up?  Is there an area of life where we should leave God out?

Do You Want To Hear God Speak?

He has spoken. 
He has been speaking for thousands of years.
He spoke and created reality.
He had man write down his words throughout history.
His written word is carries with it Himself- The Holy Spirit.
He speaks to this day, all day, every day, through out the world to all people at any moment.
Do you want to hear his voice?

Read His written word aloud and he is speaking to you!

The Jewish nation understood this and kept His words written from the moment it was necessary. 
The early church understood this and kept His words written and circulating.
The church now understands this and keeps His words open for all generations.

The Reformers understood this greatly.  They knew for a fact that Holy Scripture was God's very own words.  They understood that God influenced man to record the very things that God wanted man to know.  The accumulation of God's own words reached the beginning of time and the future all the way to eternity.  It addressed all points of human existence and nature.  They formed the principle 'Scripture Alone' to express this very issue about the God's Words- Holy Scripture.

50 Shades of Christian Deception

You can know if you or someone you know is blinded by themselves or the world by their heart felt view of the movie 50 Shades of Gray.  It comes down to if they find it acceptable to expose themselves to its contents and stand idle or support others to be exposed to it.  But what is inherently wrong and dangerous about the movie?

The Seemingly Lonely Transition from Wordly to Godly

In America it is difficult to find a church that is not so superficial and seemingly fake in their 'welcoming new believers'.  They all have greeters at the doors to say hi.  They may help you find a place to sit.  They may have their uncomfortable 'turn to your neighbor and say hi' at the early part of the service.  but all of that is just routine.  At the end of the day, everyone does home, separate.  You may fill out a 'new visitor card' and get a phone call or email a few days later but that's it.  At the end of it all, the average church, expects the new believer to come charging in and make friends with everyone and not vice-versa. 

The American Christian Religion

This is not a new problem of the religious but is a very common issue in America now.  In 2012, 77% of Americans claimed to be 'Christian'.  That includes 2% who are Mormon, 23% Catholic, and the rest 52% Protestant and 'other' Christan.  In those stats alone we already see a problem.  Mormons deny essential truths of Christianity like The Trinity among others; they are not Christian by their own beliefs.  Yet, claim the Christian title.  This just validates the point being made here;  That the American Christian Religion has become a religion of its own with its own sects and has parted ways with the true Christian Faith from Jesus Christ as The Lord God and Savior in the Trinity. 

What is the American Christian Religion (ACR):

Tongues of Angels of 1 Corinthians 13

This is the one and only go-to verse, 1 Corinthians 13:1, for people who believe there is a kind of language in heaven that is not of this world.  Here is the major flaw in this thinking.

Paul is using a Hyperbole. 

Hyperbole is a figure of speech.

Just like if someone went to a concert and listened to their favorite singer said "that singer has the voice of an angel".  That is a hyperbolic expression.  The voice was not literally an angle from heaven voice.  It is describing the positive effect from the human voice. 

What is Paul saying then:

He said that it doesn't matter if he speaks to people with his own language or if the Spirit gives him the ability to speak in another language he has never spoke before; its all useless if there is no love. 

An interpretation that he is talking about a language of Heaven that angels speak to each other is a poor understanding of literature comprehension and adding into scripture what is not being said.  Because of this failed biblical hermeneutics; people are confused and deceived.